Cathay set to reintroduce upgrade bidding system?

Cathay Pacific once again looks to be exploring the idea of introducing an upgrade bidding system, following the circulation of a new survey of its Cathay Pacific Insights members.

The airline first began looking into such a system – which would allow passengers to bid a price in order to upgrade their ticket to a higher travel class – in 2014, when it conducted a trial of the service.

Responding to a request for comment by Business Traveller Asia-Pacific, a spokesperson for Cathay Pacific said: “We have been carefully looking at our customers’ responses following that trial in addition to examining ongoing market trends. We are continuing to explore our approach to ensure that the system meets every aspect of our customers’ requirements before we commit to a rollout.

“To that end, we recently launched a survey to gather our customers’ views on the potential brand name options. We will share more information once we are comfortable that every detail of the proposed product is right for our customers.”

According to commenters on forum flyertalk.com, potential names proposed in the survey include Enhance – which the programme was trialled under in 2014 – as well as Sky Bid, Upgrade Bid, Cabin Bid, Up Bid, Travel Bid and Fly Bid.